Abstract
Soft X-ray data from the XRP experiment on SMM are used to generate the temperature and density in the flaring region of the 1980, June 29 (18∶21 UT) solar flare. The temporal data (T max ∼- 20 × 106 K and n max ∼- 4 × 1011 cm−3), together with an assumed velocity, are used to simulate mass injection as the input pulse for the MHD model of Wu et al. (1982a, 1983a). The spatial and temporal coronal response is compared with the ground-based, Mark III K-coronameter observations of the subsequent coronal transient. The simulation produces a spatially-wide, large amplitude, temporarily-steepened MHD wave for either of the two ‘canonical’ magnetic topologies (closed and open), but no shock wave. This result appears to be confirmed by the fact that a type II radio event was observed late in the event for only a few minutes, thereby indicating that a steepening wave with temporary, marginal shock formation, was indeed present. The density enhancements produced by the simulation move away from the Sun at the same velocity observed by the K-coronameter. However, the observation of the coronal transient included a rarefaction that does not appear in the simulation. A probable explanation for this discrepancy is the likelihood that the magnitude and temporal profile of the density of the soft X-ray emitting plasma should not have been used as part of the mass injection pulse. We believe that the temperature profile alone, as suggested by earlier simulations, might have been a necessary and sufficient condition to produce both the compression and rarefaction of the ambient corona as indicated by the K-coronameter data. Hence, the dense plasma observed by XRP was probably confined, for the most part, close to the Sun during the ∼ 17 min duration of the observations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antonucci, E., Gabriel, A. H., Acton, L. W., Culhane, J. L., Doyle, J. G., Leibacher, J. W., Machado, M. E., Orwig, L. E., and Rapley, C. G.: 1982, Solar Phys. 78, 107.
Billings, D. F.: 1966, A Guide to the Solar Corona, Academic Press, New York.
Dryer, M. and Maxwell, A.: 1979, Astrophys. J. 231, 945.
Dryer, M., Wu, S. T., Steinolfson, R. S., and Wilson, R. M.: 1979, Astrophys. J. 227, 1059.
Dulk, G. A.: 1971, Australian J. Phys. 24, 177.
Dulk, G. A., Smerd, S., MacQueen, R. M., Gosling, J. T., Magun, A., Stewart, R. T., Sheridan, K. V., Robinson, R. D., Jacques, S.: 1976, Solar Phys. 49, 369.
Duncan, R. A.: 1981, Solar Phys. 73, 133.
Fisher, R. R., Lee, R. H., MacQueen, R. M., and Poland, A. I.: 1980, Appl. Opt. 20, 1094.
Gabriel, A. H., Jordan, C., and Paget, T. M.: 1969, Proc. 6th Internat. Conf. on Physics of Electronic and Atomic Collisions, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., p. 558.
Han, S. M., Wu, S. T., and Nakagawa, Y.: 1982, Int. J. Comp. Fluids 10, 127.
Hu, Y. Q. and Wu, S. T.: 1983, submitted to J. Comp. Phys.
Lemen, J. R., Phillips, K. J. H., and The XRP Team: 1981, Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 13, 543.
Maxwell, A. and Dryer, M.: 1981, Solar Phys. 73, 313.
McKenna-Lawlor, S. et al.: 1982, (in preparation).
Mewe, R. and Gronenschild, E. H. B. M.: 1981, Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 45, 11.
Munro, R. H.: 1976, in ‘Interplanetary Dust and Zodiacal Light’, IAU Colloq. 31.
Nakagawa, Y., Wu, S. T., and Han, S. M.: 1978, Astrophys. J. 219, 314.
Nakagawa, Y., Wu, S. T., and Han, S. M.: 1981, Astrophys. J. 244, 331.
Poland, A. I., Machado, M. E., Wolfson, C. J., Frost, K. J., Woodgate, B. E., Shine, R. A., Kenny, P. J., Cheng, C. C., Tandberg-Hanssen, E. A., Bruner, E. C., and Henze, W.: 1982, Solar Phys. 78, 201.
Saito, K.: 1970, Ann. Tokyo Astron. Obs. 12, 53.
Saito, K., Poland, A. I., and Munro, R. H.: 1977, Solar Phys. 55, 121.
Sime, D. G., Fisher, R. R., and Munro, R. H.: 1980, Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 12, 903 (abstract).
Sime, D. G., Fisher, R. R., and Munro, R. H.: 1982, ‘Ground-based Observations of the Corona Following the 29 June 1980 Flare at 18: 21 UT’, in preparation.
Steinolfson, R. S. and Nakagawa, Y.: 1977, Astrophys. J. 215, 345.
Wagner, W. J., Hildner, E., House, L. L., Sawyer, C., Sheridan, K. V., and Dulk, G. A.: 1981, Astrophys. J. Letters 244, L123.
Wang, S., Hu, Y. Q., and Wu, S. T.: 1982, Scientia Sinica (Ser. A) 25, 1805.
Weiss, A. A.: 1963, Australian J. Phys. 16, 240.
Wild, J. P. and Smerd, S. F.: 1972, Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 10, 159.
Wu, S. T., Dryer, M., Nakagawa, Y., and Han, S. M.: 1978, Astrophys. J. 219, 324.
Wu, S. T., Hu, Y. Q., Wang, S., Dryer, M., and Tandberg-Hanssen, E.: 1982a, Astrophys. Space Sci. 83, 189.
Wu, S. T., Nakagawa, Y., Han, S. M., and Dryer, M.: 1982b, Astrophys. J. 262, 369.
Wu, S. T., Wang, S., Hu, Y. Q., Michels, D. J., Howard, R. A., Koomen, M. J., and Sheeley Jr., N. R.: 1983a, to be submitted to Astrophys. J.
Wu, S. T., Hu, Y. Q., Nakagawa, Y., Tandberg-Hanssen, E.: 1983b, Astrophys. J., in press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, S.T., Wang, S., Dryer, M. et al. Magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the coronal transient associated with the solar limb flare of 1980, June 29, 18∶21 UT. Sol Phys 85, 351–373 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00148659
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00148659